Dribs and Drabs of Peeta :)
by MaddisonAnne
Summary: Little bits of The Hunger Games Trilogy from Peeta's perspective. "I stand on the metal platform looking around the semi-circle of tributes to either side. Behind me is forest. In front is the cornucopia. About 12 platforms to my left she stands. She's looking at the orange back-pack that's 20 metres infront of her. Haymitch's voice echoes in my head 'Just get out of there.'"
1. Chapter 1 - Loaves

**1. Loaves.**

The flames in the fire held my focus. The harsh tone of my mother yelling brought me back to reality. The back door slammed shut and she came in, her face red with anger.

"Get those loaves out of the oven boy!"

"Who were you yelling at?"

"None of your business Peeta, now get those loaves out before they burn!"

I slowly got the loaves out of the oven as she quickly stormed out of the room. The flames again quickly stole my attention. Distractedly I stood to take the fresh bread to the table. The tray I was holding hit the side of the oven and fell to the floor, slipping from my fingers. The loaves fell into the edge of the flames and my fingers scrambled to pick up the scorched bread.

"What have you done stupid boy?" her hand found my ear and reefed me to my feet.

"It was an accident, I didn't mean to..." she began dragging me across the room by my ear to the back door, the blackened loaves clutched in my hands.

"I don't want to hear it Peeta! Throw it to the pigs."

She pushed me out the door and slammed it behind her. I looked at the loaves, then to the pigs. I began tearing bits off the first loaf to throw to the pigs when I noticed small clothes in the mud. Not far from the clothes was a shivering figure.

I threw some of the first loaf to the pigs, but the girl huddled beneath the tree was the centre of my attention. I picked up the other two loaves, they were only slightly scorched on one end.

Without a second thought, I threw them to the shivering girl. Her eyes darted to the bread then slowly to me. She held my gaze for a few seconds before scrambling to the bread on the ground.

I threw the rest of the burnt loaves to the pigs and walked inside.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Arena

**2. The Arena.**

She came here with me.

The girl I love came to this arena with me.

I stand on the metal platform looking around the semi-circle of tributes to either side. Behind me is forest. Infront is the cornucopia. About 12 platforms to my left she stands.

She's looking at the orange back-pack that's 20 metres infront of her.

Haymitch's voice echoes in my head "Just get out of there."

I'm still looking at Katniss when she meets my gaze, squints and returns her focus to the bag.

"No Katniss," I think "don't do it. Just run."

The countdown begins.

10, 9, 8, 7...

I look back to Katniss, meeting her eyes again, I shake my head slightly.

6, 5, 4...

She straightens up, trying to register what I mean.

3, 2, 1...

The gong sounds. Katniss looks disorientated, but starts running toward the bag.

I turn and run to the forest. Screams pierce the air behind me. I keep running.  
The girl I love is now my enemy.


	3. Chapter 3 - Careers

**3. Careers.**

I don't know how they found me, but they did. The Career Tributes tracked me down while I was sleeping.

I thought they were going to kill me. It would've been simple, end my life while I slept, unable to fight back. But no, they woke me and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They would let me live in exchange to help them hunt down the girl I love.

I knew this way I could prolong them finding her, so I agreed.

Clove, the girl from District 2, kept a keen eye trained on me, almost as if she was sure I was going to try and flee. She was also watching the boy from her districts every move.

The way her eyes followed his movements reminded me of how I watched Katniss. The way Clove gazed at Cato's broad shoulders sent flickers of memories to my mind; Katniss' thick braid swinging behind her as she ran to the rarely electrified fence, her old leather boots covered in mud.

Cato's voice snapped my attention back to the arena "There she is! The girl on fire!"

He was right. I looked in the direction of his pointed finger to see Katniss scrambling out of the pool of water and into the forest.

The Careers and I chased her deeper into the tree line before she began scaling a tree. Cato began to climb up after her, his sword still stupidly gripped in his hand. He slipped and fell back to the ground as Glimmer, the girl from 1, sent arrows into the tree trunk just inches from Katniss.

Soon after, the Careers gave up and began to set up camp. I gave an apologetic glance to the girl up the tree, but she wasn't looking at us anymore.

She was looking at the large nest humming from a branch above her head.


	4. Chapter 4 - Trackerjackers

**4. Trackerjackers.**

I decided to sleep as far away from the tree as possible, without alerting the Careers.

I had an idea of what Katniss was going to do; that branch with the nest of muttations would be crashing down on the Careers and me.

The Careers seemed oblivious to the nest above their heads and to the plan that Katniss was creating.

Glimmer sat leaning with her back against the tree. Cato and Marvel, the boy from 1, argued about the best way to make a fire. Clove threw knives at various tree trunks while bragging to the tributes of 4 about her aim. I sat against another tree, 7 feet from Glimmer, watching Cloves knives embedding themselves into a tree.

I awoke to the crash of the tracker jacker infested branch hitting the ground. Glimmers' screams of agony followed.

Cato was reefing me up from the ground and pushing me towards the pool. "To the lake! To the lake!"

We dove into the water, followed by three more splashes. I surfaced to see Cato, Clove, Marvel and the boy from 4 in the water around me.

"You, bread boy," boomed Cato, "Go collect our packs, ignore the bodies."

Two cannons fire before I reach the empty tracker jacker nest. I pick up a spear when I see what's left of Glimmer. Her body has begun to disintegrate and her bow is missing.

"She's alive. She got the bow and she's alive!" I think.

I hear Cato crashing through the trees and notice the arrow pointed at me from feet away. I run to her.

"What are you still doing here?" I hiss and prod her with the end of my spear. "Are you mad? Get up!" I pull her to her feet and start pushing her. "Run!" I scream as Cato reaches me.

His sword slashes my left thigh as the end of my spear finds the side of his head, knocking him out cold.

I gather what I can and run from the tree, deeper into the forest.

If the Careers find me again, I'm as good as dead.


	5. Chapter 5 - Take the Time to Heal

**5. Take the Time to Heal.**

I'm going insane. I haven't eaten in three days. The mud is so dry on my skin that my camouflage is beginning to crack. That's when I begin to hear the voices.

"Peeta?" No, just one voice. Her voice. "Peeta?"

"You here to finish me off, sweetheart?" She jumps at the sound of my voice but is quick to kneel at my side. She peels the mud from my skin, a concerned look on her face.

"Remember, we're in love, so it's okay to kiss me whenever you want." I try to smile at her. She laughs, the laugh that I rarely hear, but have missed so much.

Painfully, she rolls me to the water and begins to clean my wounds. She turns her attention to my leg and her face contorts.

"It's pretty bad, huh?"

"No, you're going to be fine." God, she's stubborn. "Has Haymitch sent you anything for it?"

I chuckle. "Are you kidding? I bet he's sent you things though… You're a lot like him you know."

To this she scrunches her nose in distaste. "C'mon, we need to get you to some shelter."

"Katniss, I know that I'm not…" before I can even finish my sentence her lips are pressed to mine. Kissing me. In the middle of the Hunger Games Arena.

* * *

The next few days are devoted to me getting back on my feet. Katniss feeds me, makes me drink water, kisses me. If this wasn't a fight to the death, I'd be in heaven.

She looks at my leg again, still scrunching her nose up every time she sees it.

"Katniss," I whisper, "Can you tell me a story? Something happy."

She tells me of how she got her little sister a goat for her birthday. She says she sold one of her mother's lockets for some money for food. I laugh inwardly at this; I know she would've been hunting and sold the meat.

"I saw the Goat Man at the market and saw he had a wounded goat with a mauled shoulder. I knew it would still be good for making milk and cheese, so I thought I'd buy it for Prim. But, the Goat Man had other plans; he said that Rooba, the butcher was buying her. Rooba turned up a few moments later and let me buy the goat instead. When I got the goat home, Prim was so excited. Her and mother began brewing a medicine to heal her straight away."

Just as Katniss finished her story, the trumpets blared outside the cave. The voice of Claudius Templesmith invites all the tributes to a feast, no doubt a trap to lure all of them together for something needed.

"You aren't going." I turn to Katniss.

"I have to" she protests, "They'll have medicine that will heal you." She leaves the cave to get our food. She returns with sweet smelling berries.

"We got sent some sugar berries, eat some." She smiles as she feeds them into my mouth.

"They're really sweet…" then in dawns on me, they aren't sugar berries. "Katniss, no…"

The lights dim, the world spins. The girl on fire has put me to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Last Day

**6. The Last Day.**

Thresh is dead. Cato is now hunting us.

Katniss and I take turns in sleeping and keeping watch. In the morning we eat the rest of the food we have and set out into the forest so Katniss can hunt. She keeps frowning at me and looking at my feet.

"Take off your boots."

"Uh, okay?" I do as she says, then we continue. She still frowns.

Eventually we decide to split up. She teaches me a whistle to signal that I'm okay. I go to gather roots while Katniss continues to hunt. In no time I find some delicious looking berries. I lay my jacket down and begin to pick the berries, placing them on my jacket.

There's a rustle behind me, I freeze. Slowly I turn around to see a strange black and white bird fly away. I chuckle to myself and continue picking berries.

"Peeta! Peeta!" her voice is frantic. "Peeta!"

"What is it?"

"I heard the cannon!" she chokes out. "That's Nightlock Peeta! You'd be dead in a minute!" she knocks the berries from my hand before launching into my arms.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know…" I whisper.

I look over her shoulder to see Foxface being lifted up by the hovercraft. "She was following me, and I didn't even know."

Suddenly the sky looms darker. "It wouldn't be past mid-day yet…" Katniss looks confused.

"So this is the end. Let's go back to the cornucopia." I suggest.

We make it back to the charred remains of the supplies. No sign of Cato.

Katniss whistles a tune to the strange black and white birds and the trees come to life with the calls repeating the tune. The song is cut off as Cato starts crashing through the forest towards us. No, not at us. He's running from huge wolf like creatures.

Katniss grabs my wrist and begins running toward the cornucopia. Running for our lives.


	7. Chapter 7 - Nightlock

**7. Nightlock.**

My leg slows me down, but Katniss continues to drag me to the cornucopia. I help lift her on top of the golden horn where Cato is already doubled over, struggling for breath. Katniss then turns and begins to pull me up when a sharp pain shoots through my bad leg.

One arrow later I'm up next to Katniss. Cato speaks through ragged breaths "What are they?"

I look back to the giant wolf like creatures, each of them barring their teeth, standing on their hind legs, appearing almost human. That's when it hits me. _It's them. They've turned the dead tributes into muttations._

Recognition washes over Katniss' face. "It's the tributes. Look at their collars." Each of the mutts has a collar with a number. Suddenly she panics "I remember them. Glimmer, Thresh, Clove, and Rue! They're all here!"

Reefed to my feet, arm around my neck, heavy breathing in my ear. Within seconds there's also an arrow pointed at my face. Reflexively I grab his arm, preventing him from completely suffocating me.

"Go on! Shoot, and we both go down and you win." Katniss begins to lower her bow. "Go on. I'm dead anyway. I always was, right? I couldn't tell until now. How's that, is that what they want? I can still do this…" his right arm grips my shoulder and his left goes to my neck. "I can still do this. One more kill."

Katniss aims her bow back at his forehead. _No, shoot his hand._ I slowly move my hand along his arm, pointing to his hand. Her eyes shift to his hand and she adjusts her aim.

"It's the only think I know how to do, bringing pride to my district. Not that it matters."

Katniss releases her arrow into Cato's hand. His arms release me. He stumbles backwards, off the edge to the mutts below. For hours we listen to the cries of the dying boy from District 2 as we try to stop the bleeding in my leg.

The voice of Claudius Templesmith again fills the arena. He tells us the earlier revision the rules has been revoked. Only one tribute can win.

I pull out my knife and throw it toward the lake. When I look back at Katniss her last arrow is pointed at my heart. "Do it. Do it before they send those mutts back or something. I don't want to die like Cato."

She drops her bow. "I can't" she says "I won't. You can't leave me here alone."

"Listen," I say as I limp forward to her. "We both know they have to have a victor. It can only be one of us. Please, take it. For me." I can't go home, not without her.

Knife and arrows forgotten, she's fumbling in her pocket. "Trust me" she whispers.

She pours some berries into my hand, then the rest into her own. I kiss her softly "On the count of three."

We stand, our backs together, our empty hands locked tightly. We begin counting "One. Two. Three." I lift my hand to my mouth.

"Stop! Stop!" Claudius' voice is frantic above us. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! I give you – the tributes of District Twelve!"


	8. Chapter 8 - Victors

**8. Victors.**

I wake to find myself in a small room with no windows, no doors. I'm utterly alone and there are tubes running from my right arm. I shift beneath the sheets of my bed to find that I no longer have control of my left leg below my knee.

Suddenly a portion of the wall slides aside to reveal a tall dark haired avox boy carrying a tray of food. He walks towards me and places the tray on my thighs. I want to ask him questions. He presses a button which raises me to a sitting position as I hazard my first question.

"Is Katniss okay?" he nods his head, a smile across his features. I breathe a sigh of relief before asking another question. "Did I lose my leg?" his smile fades and he nods again.

When the meal is finished, I'm lowered back into the laying position I woke in. A strange sensation travels up my arm and I am again sent into the black abyss of unconsciousness.

* * *

The next time I come to there are no longer tubes running from my arm. I sit up and swing my legs out of the bed. Intrigued, I look at what remains of my left leg. Just above where my knee used to be, it ends. I gently prod the end of my stump. _Nothing. I can't feel anything. How am I going to walk?_

I look to the end of the bed to find the same clothes I wore in the arena. _Of course, I have to see my prep team._ Just as I get into my pants, the wall again slides open to reveal Portia who rushes over to me.

"Hello sweetie, how are you feeling?"

I force a smile as she hugs me "I'm feeling a lot better than I was a few days ago."

"I'm really sorry that they couldn't save your leg, Peeta." She smiles sadly. "But the Capitol doctors made you a new prosthesis."

She helps strap the new limb to my stump then helps me walk to the elevator at the end of the hall outside my room. The elevator takes us back to the penthouse, just like before the games.

My prep team instantly crowd around me, getting me ready for tonight. Portia has picked out a soft yellow shirt, black dress pants, and heavy boots. When I'm dressed, Portia hands me a thin metal cane.

"Too help keep your balance." She smiles.

Then we descend in the elevator again and make our way beneath the stage. Time to relive the nightmare of the arena.

* * *

_Hey guys, so I'm slowly running out of inspiration for this fanfic and my others aswell... If you come up with any ideas at all, feel free to PM me, or write a review with your ideas. If you help me in any way at all, I promise I will thankyou on the chapter you influence.  
Thanks for all your guys that are favouriting and reviewing, it makes me want to write more for you, I JUST DONT KNOW WHAT :/  
Thankyou all again. __**MaddisonAnne **__xx_


	9. Chapter 9 - Relive

**9. Relive**

Beneath the stage, Portia ushers me on to a metal plate. _Another thing like the Arena._ I think to myself.

"Just be you. The same boy Panem fell in love with at the interviews." She smiles softly before hugging me and leaving for her own plate.

The anthem booms and Caesar Flickerman begins by greeting the audience who cheer and applaud. The prep teams are presented, followed by Effie. I bet she's loving it up there, she's always wanted to be in the spotlight since she became a tribute escort. As expected Portia and Cinna receive many whoops and cheers, after all, they've done some brilliant work. Haymitch is introduced to rumbling of feet stomping. He did accomplish the unbelievable: keeping not only one, but two tributes alive.

The plate begins to lift me up to the stage. Instinctively I smile, ready for the crowd. The lights blind me, but I continue to smile. The deafening roar of the crowd rattles the plate beneath my feet, reverberating all the way up my new leg. Then there's Katniss, only a few metres away, looking absolutely stunning.

She takes a few steps forward, crashing into me, wrapping her arms around me. I stumble backwards, _Darn this leg!_ I manage to use the cane to catch myself, then wrap my free arm around her. The crowd loves it, but this isn't for them. This is for me. I press my lips to hers for what only seems like seconds when Caesar taps my shoulder. _No, not yet. I'm not ready to relive this._ I keep my eyes locked on Katniss and push Caesar aside. The crowd erupts with more applause.

Finally, Haymitch intervenes and gives us a gentle push toward the Victor's chair. We sit, and Katniss rests her head on my shoulder. My arm wraps around her, my other hand resting on hers, ready for the show. She shifts slightly, she's uncomfortable. I squeeze her hand and press a soft kiss to her temple.

"We're going to be fine." I whisper just loud enough for her to hear as the Capitol seal appears on the screen.

* * *

_What are you guys thinking?:) __**MaddisonAnne **__xx_


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